The definitive ranking of every Billie Eilish song, from worst to best

From Don’t Smile At Me all the way to Happier Than Ever

3 years ago

Happier Than Ever, the second album by Billie THEE Eilish, is finally in our grasp. And let’s not beat around the bush, it’s fucking spectacular. Billie Eilish just gets better and better, an artist unlike anyone we’ve ever had in her age bracket. She’s a force to be reckoned with, her music so distinct and mature. She impresses stuffy music critics that sneer at pop music and legions of young TikTok teens equally. Here are all 47 Billie Eilish songs ranked from best to worst, from the early days of Don’t Smile At Me to the global superstardom heights of Happier Than Ever.

47. 8

The vocal production on this one is just a no. I like that Finneas and Billie tried something, but it never works how they want it to.

46. Hostage

Hostage is what a Billie Eilish song should never be: boring.

45. Party Favor

These childlike Billie songs are just a bit jarring. You have to really be in the mood for Party Favor or it just sounds irritating, like you’re stuck babysitting the annoying child of a neighbour and have to listen to their whines.

44. Six Feet Under

Six Feet Under is the first sound the world ever got of Billie Eilish. Considering Billie was 15 when she recorded this, a song fully written and produced by her brother Finneas, it’s quite remarkable. But in the grand scheme of things and with everything she’ll release going forward, it’s barely a blip on the Eilish radar.

43. Wish You Were Gay

I like the sentiment of wishing someone you fancied to be gay so it hurts less that they’re not into you, but the production choices here are completely annoying. The weird beat and clap sounds feel like they’re off an I Am… Sasha Fierce album track and she can and does do better elsewhere.

42. GOLDWING

A decent song that is over just before it properly gets going.

41. Goodbye

Again, it’s only a liccle one this one. But gorgeous. A lovely closer reflecting on a STUNNING proper debut, but it’s more of plenary to the songs that came before it with loads of reprises rather than a song in its own right.

40. &burn

A less memorable version of a song that will place much higher on the ranking, but with added Vince Staples!

39. Bitches Broken Hearts

Bitches Broken Hearts is a bit of an in between eras interlude for Billie Eilish from her mini album to the LP, and it’s really nice but just doesn’t have that full blown impact of a song that’s significant to her eras.

38. No Time To Die

Billie’s Bond theme is understated and haunting, and whilst I wish she took a more adventurous Eilish approach to the task I think her vocals here are some of her career best. It’s a shame that due to the pandemic it didn’t have the moment it was meant to, with the film being postponed and still not being released in cinemas yet over a year later.

37. Halley’s Comet

Built around the refrain of Halley’s Comet coming round more than Billie Eilish does (it’s visible from earth every 75 years), this is a nice if unremarkable Happier Than Ever album track.

36. Everybody Dies

A middling album track from Happier Than Ever that doesn’t do anything wrong, but plods on a bit too much with its existential themes.

35. Listen Before I Go

A very sad suicidal song that isn’t much fun to listen to, but that is of course the point. Billie Eilish at her bleakest.

34. I Didn’t Change My Number

The raucous second song on Happier Than Ever sounds like it opens with a pig snort, and it’s a blast. Funky trap production that sounds like a harpsichord building to a dark synth melody that echoes her first album. Great stuff.

33. Lo Vas a Olvidar

An understated wow from two of the biggest girls in music? Yes please. Gorgeous.

32. Lost Cause

A song that gets better as it goes on, some really nice dynamic moments. Was a bit of an underwhelming release after the stunning Your Power, but it is a decent track that works really well within Happier Than Ever’s tracklist.

31. I Love You

The last full song on WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO is a soft and delicate ballad that would work wonderfully on Lana’s last album. It’s the kind of Billie song where her Del Rey influence is so prominent. I wish there was less back up male vocals from Finneas, but the chorus swells so gorgeously.

30. Bored

One of her most simple and commercially marketable songs, and one of her earliest. Recorded for the soundtrack of 13 Reasons Why, Bored is early Billie in a completely pleasant and digestible package.

29. OverHeated

A clubby cut from Happier Than Ever, it’s kind of like Oxytocin’s milder sister. But even a milder sister of Oxytocin is a brilliant song, which OverHeated is even if it stays a little bit too low key.

28. NDA

The most recent Billie Eilish is NDA – a pulsating, dark and writhing song that is good across the board but is sometimes GREAT. When the “you can’t let me go” bits hit it transcends, a horror film of autotune and menace and its transition into Therefore I Am on Happier Than Ever is incredible. This is the spot within a ranked list of Billie Eilish songs where we get to the REALLY good stuff.

27. My Strange Addiction

Like Billie Eilish herself, I too am a die-hard lover of The Office. Having this song feature quotes from the ICONIC Threat Level: Midnight episode was so fun to hear on first listen and I love the fun everyone had whilst recording this When We All Fall Asleep banger.

26. ilomilo

A strange, juttering and fascinating tune that is named after a puzzle video game. Fitting, because this song’s production is so dazzlingly bewildering.

25. Not My Responsibility

Not My Responsibility debuted as a short film for her tour pre-pandemic, and the spoken word song is extremely effective as she lowers herself into the black fluid. It reminds me of Madonna’s spoken work on Erotica in the early 90s. Important message done right.

24. When I Was Older

A criminally unknown song recorded for the soundtrack of Roma, When I Was Older is a pensive and haunting tune that really has the power to get under your skin – you’ve just got to let it in. Give it a few listens and sit with it a bit. Amazing.

23. Getting Older

This is how you open your second album after becoming the biggest popstar on the planet. It’s the perfect introductory track to the era, the lyrics are bursting with meaning and the production and general vibe is full Lily Allen on No Shame. Which is a major compliment.

22. Xanny

Where the vocal production risks don’t work for me on 8, on Xanny they work in abundance. It’s so disorientating and ominous, which is one of my fave musical directions for Billie Eilish to go in.

21. All The Good Girls Go To Hell

Fully fledged horror in a song. Brilliant stuff, so visceral. Spooky production with robust vocals, just a great Billie single doing exactly what it should be doing. Love it.

20. Come Out And Play

A Billie Eilish Christmas song! And it’s absolutely bloody beautiful. Currently listening to this in the height of August and wishing I was snowed in by a fireplace. Bliss.

19. My Boy

OG Billie EP at its most fun. Boppy production, bursting with attitude and just a great song. The kind of tune that made me a fan of her in the first place.

18. Male Fantasy

The closing track on Happier Than Ever, and one of its best songs. I love Billie Eilish sounding this unplugged. It’s gorgeous, and love the social commentary on the female role in porn for the male gaze. Not a broadly discussed topic in pop music this mainstream, and it’s excellent.

17. Watch

CLASSIC. Stone cold classic. The chorus is legendary in Eilish folklore as far as I’m concerned. Great music video and great early Billie song that really got people listening on what this young teen up and comer had to say.

16. Copycat

This is how you open your first ever music project, by the way. Don’t Smile At Me’s tone was set with this from the off, a snarling, dark, BANKS-esque ominous banger. So good and still stands firmly near the top of a Billie Eilish songs ranked list all these years later.

15. idontwannabeyouanymore

Sprawling Lana Del Rey vibed balladry that is just phenomenal. The way the harmonies roll in on the chorus gives me goosebumps and I’ve listened to it at least 100 times. A 16 year old singing and writing like this? That’s superstar behaviour.

14. My Future

I found this song really underwhelming when it first dropped, but how WRONG was I! It’s so delicate before it drops into the beat, but both halves of this song work so well. A textbook grower. If you ever found this underwhelming, relisten right now. I guarantee it’s better than you remember it being.

13. Oxytocin

Balls to the wall club banger. Dirty, grimy, throbbing. A surefire hit if she gives it a single push from Happier Than Ever. It’s screaming out for a video. Massive tune that reminds me of Grimes at her best.

12. Therefore I Am

A late entry for Billie Eilish into the greatest tunes of 2020, Therefore I Am is full of spice, attitude and star quality. So much replay value and an instant earworm. She makes the most of every beat drop and every word.

11. Lovely

Another one for 13 Reasons Why, with Khalid on board. And this time it’s spectacular. One of her best ballads. They bounce off each other so deliciously and their vocals go with the delicate piano like nothing else. A fragile and beautiful song that gets a bit too overlooked.

10. Billie Bossa Nova

Potentially the best song title she’s ever chosen? I think so. An unexpected, well, bossa nova song. This genre is such a fun surprise and it works better than it has any right to in the Happier Than Ever lineup. It feels like the perfect balance of old and new and it’s one of the songs that makes me smile most when it comes on.

9. Bellyache

This was the first Billie Eilish song I ever came across, and I’ll always get it ranked highly amongst her songs because of how fun and replayable I found it. I still find it, I should say. A weird song from the perspective of a serial killer, it kind of could work on Madonna’s Music electro-country record. Guitar with an electronic drop. Wow.

8. Your Power

A really, really, REALLY beautiful song. And very sad. Hearing someone so young sing so wisely about manipulation and misogyny is devastating and haunting. Billie sings like she’s been through the ringer. It’s incredible stuff, the production is sparse but marvellous and it truly deserves to be ranked amongst the best Billie Eilish songs.

7. You Should See Me In A Crown

One of her most menacing records that had me rooted to my seat when I first heard it. It still packs such a punch now. The chorus is so furious and addictive. Pure power and pop dominance.

6. Happier Than Ever

I’ve never seen a Billie Eilish song unite fans and critics so instantly and urgently like Happier Than Ever did. When we all listened to the album for the first time last week, the song is so instantly incredible on first listen it’s hard not to get so swept up in its emotion and fury. She NEVER sings like this, and it’s such a mid song switch up I was gasping audibly when it first came on. Instant classic. Will be a turning point in her career for years to come.

5. When The Party’s Over

Truly, truly wow. Every note of this song is perfection, and it deserves to open the top five Billie Eilish ranked songs with its delicate and harrowing melody. It builds so wonderfully, falls and peaks in unexpected places and just is one of the most emotional things she’s ever done or will do. Mesmerising.

4. Bury A Friend

BOP. BOP. BOP.

3. Everything I Wanted

Another interlude of a song that lives between eras, much like Bitches Broken Hearts. Only better in every single way. So introspective about the almost overnight success Billie found herself having after her big commercial breakthrough in 2018. Everything I Wanted is quietly brilliant, a song that stays with you for a long time.

2. Ocean Eyes

Baby Billie at her most… baby. But it’s so brilliant. It truly is. The harmonies are exquisite, the star power is instantly apparent and special, and she’s truly at the start of everything. She only has the lightest of grips on the artist she wants to be, but that’s what makes it so raw and endearing. Take your die hard fan hat off and listen to how good this song actually is.

1. Bad Guy

… Duh! It’s actually quite rare when an artist’s biggest commercially successful song is also their best, but such is the case here. Bad Guy is truly jawdropping. Whispery, scary, whimsical. Only Billie Eilish and Finneas as a duo could create a song like this. It’s her signature song, it’s her entry to the music history books and it will be looked back on as a pop classic. In fact, it already is.